Archive for May, 2007
May 28th, 2007 by Jorge Goncalves
6th International Conference on Mobile Learning (MLearn 2007). This conference will appeal to a wide range of audiences who are interested in enhancing learning, designing content and developing systems for mobile devices and wireless networks. The following objectives serve to define and guide the structure and foundation of the MLearn 2007 Conference:
- To promote the development of mobile learning
- To stimulate critical debate on & research into theories, approaches, principles & applications of mobile learning
- To share local & international developments, experiences & lessons learned.
- To promote networking & business opportunity development.
- To encourage the study & implementation of mobile applications in teaching &learning.
- To stimulate & assist personal professional development & the development of new skills for educators.
- To provide a forum for education & knowledge transfer.
- To facilitate dialogue, sharing & networking between diverse cultures with regard to the optimum use of emerging technologies.
- To bring together providers of technology & services with educators and instructional designers.
MLearn 2007 will be held at Melbourne Exhibition & Convention Centre, Melbourne, Australia, from 16 to 19 October 2007.
Thoughts Aside: International conference on mobile learning emphasized the significance of the technology platform, covered in the 350-018 certification and forming the basis of another online certification 312-49, designed to promote employee development and the on job accomplishments. Hundreds of the employers showed their interest in quantifying and improving on their employees’ skills (312-50) through mobile learning resources. The online learning and testing system aimed at developing the competency model as taught in the 350-001 certification has been used by thousands of the clients including the industry icons.
May 28th, 2007 by Jorge Goncalves
6th European Conference on e-Learning (ECEL 2007). Over the last ten years, the way in which education is delivered has changed considerably with the advent of new technologies. e-Learning is one such development, so much so that it is now regarded as a field in it’s own right. This, the 6th European Conference on e-Learning (ECEL 2007), offers an opportunity for those involved in the study, implementation and delivery of e-learning to meet and exchange ideas and experiences.
The conference, to be held in October 2007, invites qualitative, experience-based and quantitative papers, case studies and reports of work in progress on both the theory and practice of all aspects of web-enabled technology in learning and teaching. Submissions are welcomed from academics, teachers, practitioners, vendors and government departments.
In addition to the main conference, submission are welcomed for two mini tracks: Online and Virtual Communities and e-Learning and Health.
ECEL 2007 will be held at Copenhagen Business School, Copenhagen, Denmark, from 4 to 5 October 2007.
May 25th, 2007 by Jorge Goncalves
Defining and Understanding Virtual Worlds, by Karl M. Kapp, Learning Circuits, 2007. ‘Virtual worlds just might be the future of e-learning. It is enough to make a learning professional’s head spin. Every day there is a new story about online worlds providing new learning environments. Articles and books are describing how a generation raised on video games is invading the workplace and demanding new online learning environments. Unfortunately, for those not on the bleeding edge of game technologies, all this talk of virtual worlds, avatars, MMORPGs, metaverses, and microworlds seems right out of a science fiction novel and, in some cases, it is.’
Karl Kapp Blog: Kapp Notes. ‘This blog discusses issues concerning learning, e-learning and the transferring knowledge from retiring baby boomers to incoming gamers. The goal is to share information and knowledge to create a better understanding of learning design.’
May 25th, 2007 by Jorge Goncalves
834 Tips for Successful Online Instruction Homepage. ‘This free Digital Book, 834 Tips for Successful Online Instruction, is an amazing collection of tips from 336 of your professional colleagues. Nowhere will you find a more comprehensive set of tips that you can use to improve your knowledge and skills in online instruction. This eBook is available for everyone regardless of their affiliation with The eLearning Guild - so don’t hesitate to tell all your colleagues about it.’
ebook: 834 Tips for Successful Online Instruction (PDF, 1.1 MB). From Introduction: In early 2005 The eLearning Guild conducted a survey of its members on the subject of Synchronous Instruction. A total of 644 members responded to the questionnaire. The last question in the questionnaire asked members who have online instruction experience to list their favorite tips to share with other online instructors; a remarkable total of 336 members contributed usable tips.
As might be expected the tips ranged from a single word (Plan! or Practice!) to as many as fifteen separate tips running over 350 words! They also ranged from the simple and obvious to the unusual and subtle. They covered the complete gamut of behavior for an online instructor. We are providing these tips to everybody who is interested in being more effective at doing online synchronous instruction.
The raw list of tips was overwhelming, so we examined several schemes for categorizing them, none of which worked very well. Finally, we decided to let the tips fall into more or less natural categories as suggested by the tips themselves. Most of the categories relate to functional roles: instructor, manager, and design and development team.
May 25th, 2007 by Jorge Goncalves
Tips and Tricks for Teaching Online. Tips and Tricks for Teaching Online was designed and developed and is maintained by the Dallas Baptist University Online Education Department. This site contains tips and tricks for designing course content, facilitating and teaching online, developing learning objects, assessment ideas and tutorials for Blackboard, just to name a few. Users are asked to rate each suggested strategy or idea and can submit their own tips and tricks.
May 21st, 2007 by Jorge Goncalves
WiZiQ is an educational community on the web, connecting teachers and learners.
Teachers and learners can build their profile, form learning networks and connect with members via virtual classroom thus breaking the barriers of distance.
WiZiQ is a highly advanced learning system where teachers and learners can meet in real time using just a PC with an internet connection. Doing away the constraints of physical distance between the teacher and the learner, WiZiQ uses a virtual classroom application that is fully equipped with 2-way audio, text chat, whiteboard, PowerPoint and PDF Document sharing capabilities allowing an instantaneous exchange of notes between the teacher and the learner. They can write queries and solutions easily on the whiteboard that are displayed on the computer screens of both the participants at the same time; making the personal tutoring a highly interactive and rich learning experience.
May 18th, 2007 by Jorge Goncalves
Learning Tools. ‘The Learning Tools project was initiated by the Department of Arts Instructional Support and Information Technology (Arts ISIT) at the University of British Columbia. Arts ISIT strives to create new and improved technology-based learning opportunities for students and educators alike, by experimenting with new media and creating innovative online-based applications to facilitate teaching and learning.
The e-learning tools listed here are publicly available for academic use, within and outside the University of British Columbia. Periodically, Arts IS releases new tools to this site, so please check back in the future to see what’s new. You are invited to explore these exciting new learning tools, and make free use of the learning objects they generate for educational or research purposes.’
May 15th, 2007 by Jorge Goncalves
PoducateMe - Practical Solutions for Podcasting in Education. ‘You’ve likely heard of podcasting by now. Countless universities, colleges and K-12 classes worldwide are using the technology to deliver recorded lectures, news and information to students. In fact, nothing has had a greater impact on students since the invention of the paddle. OK, I kid, but I’m also making a point here — podcasting has taken education by storm, and the technology cannot be ignored.
PoducateMe features a comprehensive podcasting guide that reveals exactly how to bring the benefits of podcasting to your classroom. The entire PoducateMe Podcasting Guide can be read online free of charge.’
May 15th, 2007 by Jorge Goncalves
e-Learning for Kids. ‘Our vision is to be the source for childhood learning on the Internet - available from anywhere and without charge. Established in late 2004, e-Learning for Kids is a global non-profit foundation dedicated to fun and free learning on the Internet for children ages 5 - 12. We offer free, best-in-class courseware in math, science reading, keyboarding, English Language and Health and Life Skills. We are building a community for parents and educators to share innovations and insights in childhood education.
e-Learning for Kids isn’t only for kids, though. It’s also a site where parents get more engaged in their kids’ education and educators and experts champion e-learning and contribute their knowledge on how kids can learn better.
In short e-Learning for Kids is a global, virtual community where children learn and grow.’
May 15th, 2007 by Jorge Goncalves
Are You Ready for Mobile Learning? by Joseph Rene Corbeil and Maria Elena Valdes-Corbeil, EDUCAUSE Quarterly, Vol. 30, 2007. ‘Frequent use of mobile devices does not mean that students or instructors are ready for mobile learning and teaching. From the Conclusions: ‘Are distance-education students and faculty ready to make the jump from e-learning to mobile learning? What does it mean to be ready? To answer these questions, we examined the mobile devices that students and faculty were already using, as well as the activities they engaged in while using these devices. In most cases, both students and faculty already participated in a variety of mobile computing and communication activities at work and for recreation. They were not, however, integrating mobile technologies into their teaching and learning activities.’
May 10th, 2007 by Jorge Goncalves
‘Edtags.org is a website for educators (e.g., teachers, education graduate students, professors, librarians, etc.) to connect with people sharing similar interests, discover relevant materials that may have “eluded” the traditional card catalogue search, and store and categorize your favorite bookmarks.
You are encouraged to upload, store, categorize and share your own course papers, pre-print materials, pictures and the like. When you label a bookmark “private” only you can see it; however, sharing is what this site is all about!’
May 9th, 2007 by Jorge Goncalves
The Bazaar. ‘The Bazaar is a community portal for people who want to use, exchange and share Open Source Software and resources to support learning. The major aim of the project is to develop and support a community of practice for teachers, trainers, moderators and facilitators in the development, creation, exchange and use of e-learning materials.
Exchanging materials, networking with others and testing all kinds of Open Source Software tools and applications can be done through the forum, the wikis and the blogsystem, but also via the Stalls which are put on to the Bazaar website. Register yourself to the Bazaar and put up your own Stall for a project, tool or application. For instance: anything which is helping you as a teacher to better your learning materials might be of some help to others as well.’
Recommended:The Bazaar Project Stall
